Andy Murray continued the rich vein of form that saw him win the Madrid Masters by comfortably beating the Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the St Petersburg Open yesterday.

The British No1, who is the defending champion and top seed, arrived in Russia only on Monday but was quickly into his stride against an opponent he had not faced before and was always in control after breaking Troicki in the fifth game.

"He made a lot of mistakes on his forehand," Murray said. "I haven't seen him play so much, so I didn't really have too many tactics, but for my game I tried to serve well and change the speed of the ball a lot."

Troicki, the world No53 who reached the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington in August, saved one break point with an ace but Murray made sure on the second to take a 3-2 lead. With Troicki's serve vulnerable Murray took the set and a run of six straight games put him 3-0 ahead in the second set before his opponent troubled the scoreboard again. Murray ambled to the finish line but his next match is unlikely to be such a stroll. He will face the gifted young Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-0, 6-2.

The third seed, Fernando Verdasco, whom Murray beat 6-2, 6-3 in the final last year - his first trophy following a wrist injury that saw him miss the French Open and Wimbledon - reached the second round by defeating Karlis Lejnieks of Latvia 6-1, 6-3. Nikolay Davydenko pulled out with a wrist injury. The sixth-ranked Russian sustained the injury on Tuesday and said he was unlikely to play in Paris next week. "Even if the inflammation and pain pass, I will have no time for preparation," Davydenko said. If there was no pain by the end of the next week he would have two weeks to prepare for the season-ending Shanghai Masters.

Jamie Murray, meanwhile, is out of the Lyon grand prix after he and his Swedish partner, Robert Lindstedt, lost their quarter-final 7-6, 6-3 to the French pair Thierry Ascione and Marc Gicquel. Murray has had little success since splitting with Max Mirnyi last month and Tuesday's first-round victory was his first on the ATP Tour for three months.

The junior Wimbledon champion Laura Robson suffered her second WTA Tour defeat in as many days at the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg. The 14-year-old became the youngest British player to compete on the main tour when she fell to a three-set defeat by Iveta Benesova in the first round of the singles on Tuesday. Yesterday she teamed up with Argentina's Gisela Dulko in the doubles but the pair were beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Vera Dushevina and Mariya Koryttseva.